Hearst Uses Marie Claire @Work to Grab Younger Audiences

Publisher says the supplement has potential to be a stand-alone product.

Hearst Magazines is launching a supplement to Marie Claire magazine today in an attempt to drive interest and attract new and younger demographics of readers. The 72-page November supplement, entitled Marie Claire @Work, will roll out with 100,000 issues on newsstands.

"The content is something that has always been part of the DNA of Marie Claire," says Nancy Berger Cardone, vice president, publisher and chief revenue officer for the title. Right now the magazine has a monthly column dedicated to working women and Berger Cardone says the publication also provides fitness and health and beauty tips to working women-making the supplement a natural extension of the brand identity. Next year, all career-focused content within the pages of Marie Claire will carry the @Work logo.

"We get a lot of response to those articles because the demographic makeup of our reader is skewed very much toward women who have careers and are professional managerial level individuals that are highly educated and of the top markets," says Berger Cardone.

A digital edition of Marie Claire @Work is available if a reader downloads the November issue through the Zinio newsstand or Apple’s iTunes. Marie Claire @Work and clothing retailer Express have teamed up with the digital supplement, an effort that may help the publication engage younger demographics of the new market place.

"Express is targeting young women that are either just entering the workforce right now or those that just began their career within the past few years," says Berger Cardone. "Their target audience is younger than those that we see as our sweet spot. This gives us another audience base to tap into-women who are about to graduate from college and about to go into the workforce, we would love to have them come into the Marie Claire family. I think this does broaden who we reach in different ways and it keeps the brand vital and relevant."

Express and Marie Claire @Work are delivering video content within the digital product that provides young women with insights into how best to dress for different aspects of work life. "The digital edition lets us take advantage of that as a platform. Express is also pushing the digital edition as sort of a gift to their database of 8 million women," says Berger Cardone.

LinkedIn is also being used to increase the buzz around Marie Claire @Work-the publication designed the Marie Claire Career Network on the social platform to give women an avenue for digital business networking. The LinkedIn group, which just went live last week, has around 300 members so far.

"When you look at the male to female ratio on LinkedIn, many more men are on there," says Berger Cardone. "We are trying to help women get into this network and have conversations with us and each other-we want to have a dialogue with our audience and hear what they’re thinking and what their concerns are so we can respond to that."

The publication is also launching a series of career panel luncheons to engage women and a mentorship program that will be executed around the country. As the title moves into 2012, there will be other Marie Claire @Work supplements in April and November that will have a minimum of 120 pages. In 2013, Berger Cardone says newsstands could expect a quarterly edition of Marie Claire @Work.

"We’re building this as a brand, we do think it has stand-alone value," says Berger Cardone. "We see this as an opportunity to bring more women into the Marie Claire franchise-if it’s through this window, that’s fantastic."

SourceMedia CEO Doug Manoni has been named chairman of ABM. Manoni, who most recently was vice chair of the business media association, will succeed outgoing chairman Neal Vitale. His term starts immediately.